 "Only 5% of farmers cultivating wheat, rice insured their crops")
Only five per cent of households cultivating wheat and paddy have insured their crops, according to a report released by the ministry of statistics & programme implementation (MoSPI).
By comparison, insurance coverage rates were higher among farmers cultivating groundnut, soyabean and cotton in the agricultural year July 2012-June 2013.
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The latest data comes against the backdrop of the central government embarking on a crop insurance schemes, which it hopes will cover 50 per cent of the farmers in two years.
The report, based on the 70th round of the National Sample Survey carried out between January and December 2013, found that a majority of farmers were simply not aware of crop insurance.
Knowledge about insurance and its benefits were, expectedly, lower in rural areas with lower levels of literacy. But despite knowing about the facility, 20 per cent of households were simply not interested in insuring their crops or did not feel the need to insure crops.
The report affirmed the widely held view that among those households who insured their crops and experienced crop losses, only a small percentage received their claims. Further, most of the claims that were received were often delayed.
According to the report, "More than 75 per cent of the agricultural households that had additionally insured their crops did not receive their insurance claim against the crop loss they experienced in respect of the crops harvested during the period July 2012- December 2012."
For pulses such as urad, arhar and other crops like groundnut, cotton and soyabean, non-receipt of claims was almost 100 per cent.
